


all or nothing

by jeojang



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Innisfree Volcanic Clay Masks, M/M, Misunderstandings, Texting, hello i am here to cater to ur romantic comedy needs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 13:17:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11737854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeojang/pseuds/jeojang
Summary: “Ong,” Daniel repeats. “Ong.”And then he adds, “I like it.”Seongwoo wants to say,And I like you.





	all or nothing

“Hello, are you finding everything alright?”

When Seongwoo turns to face the employee who has just spoken to him, his breath hitches in his throat a little bit, because um, _hello there_.

“Oh—” He glances down at the tube of cleanser he’s just picked up, and comes to two conclusions:

One, that he’s already gotten what he came here for. If he’s talking about skincare.

Two, he hasn’t gotten what he came here for yet at all, at least not if he’s talking about the _very_ handsome Innisfree worker in front of him.

“Actually,” he improvises before common sense— _this guy is a complete stranger, it’s literally his job to help you, you might want a piece of him but it doesn’t mean he does, is he even_ gay—can kick in. “My sister’s birthday is coming up, you see, and she really likes… those.” Seongwoo points to the first thing he sees.

“ _Forest For Men?_ ” the employee asks, and the way his eyes and nose scrunch a little in confusion might be cute, if Seongwoo weren’t too busy dying of embarrassment at the moment. Of course it was the men’s collection. Of course it was, out all the things in this store he possibly could’ve pointed at.

“Uh,” Seongwoo says, searching desperately for a way to save this. He spots a row of rainbow-colored tubes two shelves down. They’re accompanied by a picture of Yoona making a cute little peace sign, and that seems like a safe enough choice. “Sorry, the ones below it, I think? The Yoona ones?”

“Oh!” Judging by his response, this was a perfectly normal thing for a young woman to want, and Seongwoo counted his lucky stars. He continues, “Those are our color-coded clay masks. Do you know which ones she uses?”

Seongwoo blinks. He has no idea what his fictional sister’s skincare routine is like. He’s about to open his mouth, probably to make himself sound like an idiot again, but the guy working seems to pick up on his cluelessness.

“Each color is for a different skin concern,” he explains, leading Seongwoo to the display. “The yellow is for brightening—it has vitamin C, see—and the blue is hydrating. The pink is—”

And really, Seongwoo is certain that the explanation for each of these is great, except that he has no idea what each color is actually for after that, because he’s too busy staring at this guy’s beautiful face.

“—so do you have an idea of what her skin concerns might be?” he finishes.

“ _Uh_ ,” Seongwoo, intelligent young man that he is, says.

“Well,” the employee says, still smiling—and _boy_ , does he have a nice smile— “Hydrating and soothing masks are popular among people of all skin types—”

He’s so nice. He’s so nice, and helpful, and nice _looking_ , and really, if Seongwoo doesn’t get out of here soon, he’s going to end up just staying here forever staring at this complete stranger’s lips.

(Not that he’d complain about that fate.)

“I’ll take him all,” Seongwoo blurts. Well. He supposes it’s all or nothing.

“All of them? Alright,” the employee laughs, reaching down to take one of each color out. “I’m sure your sister will be happy.”

“Oh yeah,” Seongwoo says, with as much conviction as he can muster. “She’ll love it.”

They walk over to the register, and right as the cute employee is about to ring him up, the bell on the door jingles. He turns to another boy who’s organizing samples behind the counter. “Ah, hyung, can you finish checking this out?”

As he’s headed to go greet the other customer, he turns to Seongwoo and adds, “I hope your sister likes the masks!”

“Yeah,” Seongwoo says, the disappointment dry in his mouth as he hands his card to someone else.

From the other side of the store, he hears a cheerful, “Hi, is there anything I can help you find today?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**김재환 [16:58]**

so ur telling me that u just spent almost ₩100000

just because the innisfree employee was hot

 

**옹성우 [16:59]**

well yes

 

**김재환 [16:59]**

that’s gay

also ur an idiot

 

**옹성우 [17:00]**

LISTEN, he was really hot tho

 

**김재환 [17:01]**

did u at least get his name? kkt id?

address? bank account number?

rrn?

 

**김재환 [22:14]**

wow. ur RLY an idiot

 

 

* * *

 

 

Normally, Seongwoo would protest. In truth, he’s spent the greater part of the evening convincing himself that his hundred-thousand won didn’t go to waste. But now, staring at the assortment of rainbow-colored tubes on his bathroom counter, he’s forced to acknowledge the truth:

He is a complete idiot.

Not only did he spend _way_ more than he’d intended to—why did he say he’d take all of them, _damn it?_ —but now he’s saddled with a bunch of color-coded Jeju-clay-volcano-something masks, and absolutely zero idea of how to use them.

 _That’s what you get for staring at his lips instead of paying attention to what he was saying_ , a voice that sounds suspiciously like Jaehwan chides.

He lets out a small huff of frustration.

Okay. He spent his hard-earned money on those masks. It would be a waste, Seongwoo thinks to himself as he opens the first tube, to not use them.

He steps back to look in the mirror at his handiwork. He’d _tried_ , he really had. But his attempts had been clouded by the fact that he couldn’t remember what the pink one was for, and he said that black was hydrating, right?

In reality, his end product is some vaguely greenish-purplish mass of gray. Nothing like what Yoona looked like in the poster in the store.

“Idiot,” he says out loud to himself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 _Why_ , Seongwoo wishes to know, _are there so many couples in the café?_

Of course, he’s been working here for over a year now. It’s nothing new for couples to come on their dates and gaze into each other’s eyes over their cappuccinos. Besides, shouldn’t they all be at work or something?

He doesn’t realize his face has twisted into a sort of grimace as he wipes down the countertop until he feels a _whack_ upside his head.

“Hey,” Jaehwan says, “quit glaring at random customers. I know you’re just jealous because you wish you were here on a date with your face mask boy, but you don’t want to scare anyone off.”

“I’m not _jealous_ ,” Seongwoo insists, grumbling. “Why are there so many couples, anyway? Valentine’s Day isn’t until next month.”

“The new semester starts on Monday,” Sungwoon offers. “Everyone’s back from break.”

“They’re back from break,” Jaehwan adds, “and they want to see their girlfriends and boyfriends again, because not everyone is a single loser like you.”

More grumbling. “You say that like you’re not also single.”

Jaehwan doesn’t bother trying to protest, instead laughing it off. He’s so loud that Seongwoo almost doesn’t hear the bell when the door opens, and when he looks up, he swears his heart stops for a moment, because it’s _him_.

It’s him, and he’s _with_ someone.

The other guy says something that Seongwoo can’t hear, holding open the door, and Model Employee laughs, his eyes crinkling. _What_ , exactly, Seongwoo wants to know, did he say to get that kind of response? What would Seongwoo have to say to get that kind of laugh, or even just a smile?

And who _is_ this guy, anyway?

Really, Seongwoo is about ready to toss down his cleaning rag and sprint to the cash register to take his order for the simple excuse of learning his name, asking his number, inviting him on a date—

“Hi, what can I get for you today?”

He should be grateful. He should be grateful that Ha “Perfect Customer Service” Sungwoon is taking their orders, lest he make a fool of himself yet again. So he busies himself with cleaning the counter again, trying his best (ah, who was he kidding) to not eavesdrop.

Hearing a quiet noise of distress, Seongwoo snapped to attention. Model Employee, hand in his pocket, says, “I can’t believe it. I forgot my wallet.”

And this is his chance: he can step in, offer to put it on the house, the world can say hello to Ong Seongwoo, Coffee Prince—and then the other boy who came inside speaks up.

“Don’t worry about it, I can pay this time,” he says mildly, handing a bill to Sungwoon.

Oh.

_Oh._

Retreating to the back room to put the cleaning supplies away and also to clear his head, Seongwoo exhales deeply in something that’s _almost_ a sigh. (It’s not. He’s not _that_ far gone, jeez.)

He should’ve expected that a guy that good looking, a guy with that much charm in just his smile and the way he talks—that he’d already have someone.

The door opens behind him as Jaehwan enters, pulling his apron off. “Hey, can you go make the drinks? I have to go early today. Grandparents are in town tonight.”

“Jaehwan,” Seongwoo says. “It’s him.”

“Who?” Jaehwan says, and then, “Oh. _Oh._ You better get back out there then. Give him a little something sweet.”

Seongwoo gags, and Jaehwan waggles his eyebrows suggestively. The temptation to smack the shit-eating grin off of his friend’s face is real, but Jaehwan is out the door before he can, leaving Seongwoo to face the situation outside by himself.

 

When Seongwoo does emerge from the back room again, Sungwoon has his hands full with a group of middle school girls who came in while he was in the back. Reaching for the nearest cup, he stops to look at the name on it.

_Minhyun._

That’s a nice name, Seongwoo thinks. A nice name for a nice-looking man. He makes the latte with this thought in mind, and when he goes to call it out, he spots another cup. “For Minhyun and Daniel?” he says, setting Minhyun’s cup down to start on the next drinks.

He watches as Model Employee— _Minhyun_ , he tells himself—walks up to grab both cups with a crinkle-eyed smile, and as he and this… _Daniel_ leave together, bells on the door jingling behind them.

He shakes off any other thoughts that come to mind.

He has work to do.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The new semester starts, and Seongwoo forgets about Minhyun.

Until Tuesday.

 

It’s just a language requirement—never in his life has Ong Seongwoo ever been good at English, nor does he particularly enjoy learning about it, but he _would_ like to graduate on time. He’s scrolling down his Instagram feed when he hears a quiet _creak_ as someone sits down in the seat beside him.

He glances over at the person who sat down and—wait, _what?_ Hot Innisfree Employee— _Minhyun_ , he mentally corrects himself—goes to the same university as him? Since when?

He smiles at Seongwoo— _God_ , this really isn’t fair. “You work at that coffee shop, don’t you?” he says, and his voice is every bit as pleasant as Seongwoo remembers. “Across from the mall.”

“Yeah,” he says, and the other’s smile broadens. “You were there on a date on Friday, weren’t you?”

“Date?” he asks, and Seongwoo’s heart skips a beat. _What?_ “Oh, right. Nah, we just wanted a coffee on our break.” His smile drops, and his lips turn down into a thoughtful frown. Seongwoo hates that it’s just as cute as his smile. “Shit,” he says. “I still need to pay Minhyun hyung back for that.”

_What._

“Minhyun hyung?” Seongwoo doesn’t realize he’s repeating it until the words are already out of his mouth.

“Yeah, the guy I was with?” Not-Minhyun says, “We work together.”

“Oh, right.” Wetting his lips (why did his mouth feel so dry?) and mustering what courage remained after these successive revelations, Seongwoo added, “You work at Innisfree, right?”

And then, out of fear of sounding creepy: “I thought you looked familiar when you came to the café.”

Not-Minhyun opens his mouth to say something—and then the professor clears his throat at the front of the room, and any remaining conversation is put on hold.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**옹성우 [13:51]**

HES NOT MINHYUN

 

**김재환 [14:00]**

what

 

**옹성우 [14:01]**

innisfree boy!!

came into the cafe but wasnt on a date boy!!

the OTHER guy is minhyun

 

**김재환 [14:02]**

wow ok

wait but if hes not minhyun who is he

 

**옹성우 [14:15]**

fuck

 

**김재환 [14:16]**

oh my GOD

i cannot believe u

 

 

* * *

 

 

Seongwoo finds out his name on Thursday.

 

“I’m Kang Daniel, by the way,” he says, and Seongwoo mulls over the sound of it in his head. It sounds elegant, dignified—is one of his parents a foreigner? Daniel himself doesn’t speak like one.

(If he is, maybe he could help Seongwoo with their English homework. In exchange to treating him to a romantic dinner. Relationships aren’t a one-way street, after all.)

“Ong Seongwoo,” he says, and Daniel’s eyebrows raise.

“Hong?” he asks. Of course. Seongwoo is used to this by now.

“Just ‘Ong,’” Seongwoo says.

“Ong,” Daniel repeats. “Ong.”

And then he adds, “I like it.”

Seongwoo wants to say, _And I like you_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**옹성우 [22:37]**

have you done the homework yet?

 

**강다니엘 [22:38]**

yeah, do u need help?

 

**옹성우 [22:38]**

yea i dont get the 2nd part

 

**강다니엘 [22:39]**

this would be so much easier to explain in person

can u meet up?

 

 

* * *

 

 

As it turns out, Daniel _isn’t_ a foreigner. He did, however, study in Canada for a time, and is significantly better in English class than Seongwoo is. And maybe good friends wouldn’t use it to their advantage and ask for help with every assignment, but Seongwoo is greedier than that—he’s not about to give up any opportunities to spend more time with Daniel.

So he does ask for help, even on the things that he doesn’t strictly need help with, and Daniel lends his hand.

 

They study in the library, outside in the quad, at the café before Seongwoo’s shifts. Wherever happens to be the most convenient. Seongwoo is considering banning the café as a study spot, though, because very time Seongwoo glances up, he can see Jaehwan behind the counter, still wiggling his eyebrows at them like an _idiot_ , and when Daniel reaches down to get something out of his backpack, Seongwoo flips him off as discreetly as possible.

Trying to ignore Jaehwan’s piercing laughter in the background, Seongwoo tries to focus on the task at hand.

“Did you translate part B already?” Daniel asks.

“Yeah,” Seongwoo says, turning his notebook so Daniel can see what he has written.

“You should say it out loud, too,” Daniel says. “It’ll help with your pronunciation.”

Seongwoo almost says, _Your wish is my command_ , but he’d rather like to retain his dignity and not scare off his study partner. Not to mention that Jaehwan was still watching with hawk eyes, and would surely never let him live it down.

He looks down at his notebook. “ _Wow_ ,” he reads. “ _Oh my, it’s so creamy. Oh my gosh, this is the best cheesecake I have ever had. You are awfully kind to give me the last piece, don’t you_ —” Stopping, he looks up at Daniel, who looks rather like he’s trying to suppress a laugh. “This is absolute nonsense.”

“True,” Daniel says. “But it _is_ pretty funny.” This time, he laughs for real, and it’s that amazing laugh and the way his eyes and nose scrunch is so cute.

 _Oh, what the hell,_ Seongwoo thinks, and then he laughs, too.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Picking up the blue tube, Seongwoo thinks he’s finally getting the hang of this.

“Hyaluronic acid,” he says to himself, and then, “ _brightening_.”

 

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he laughs. It’s something of an improvement—now, at least, he’s figured out how to do it in different parts of his face that it’s not a gray blob, even if it _is_ a little messy.

“Watch out, Im Yoona. I’m the real visual now,” he says to his reflection, and then laughs at the foolishness of it all.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The next time they’re studying, they’re studying at Seongwoo’s apartment. It’s a small thing, nothing to show off; but he’s lived there with Jaehwan since their second year of university, and _well_ , it feels like home.

And really, to say that they’re _studying_ would be a very kind overstatement; in reality, they stopped studying some two hours before in favor of drinking and a television drama ( _when was Goblin going to find out Grim Reaper’s real identity? Was Sunny going to get a happy ending? Doesn’t Seonho from the Starbucks on campus look vaguely like Deokhwa?_ ).

“Can I use your bathroom?” Daniel asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Seongwoo says, “It’s just inside the door to the left. Sorry, It’s a bit messy.”

 

When Daniel comes back, he says, “Did you go back to get more masks?”

“Hm?” Seongwoo looks up from his latest message from Jaehwan (“o ur w daniel? lol nvm me i kno ur busy tonite ;-)”).

“The clay masks. From Innisfree?” Daniel sits down, wiping the leftover water from his hands off on his jeans. “Speaking of which, how did your sister like them, anyway? I meant to ask on that first day, but I never got the chance to.”

 _Shit_ , Seongwoo thinks, and comes to two conclusions:

One, that he can just say that his sister loves them, because it’s not like Seongwoo doesn’t acutally have a sister.

Two, he can admit it, because it’s been long enough, and Daniel is nice, for real _nice,_  not just nice _looking_ , and well—what does he have to lose?

The truth is that he has more to lose than he’d like to admit. They’re friends, sure, but only since the start of the semester; he doesn’t know that Seongwoo’s been pining after him from the start, since before he even knew his name, hell, he doesn’t even know that Seongwoo _likes_ guys in that way—and the friendship that has become so dear to Seongwoo over the past few months can be gone in a second.

But the truth is also that Seongwoo trusts Daniel more than that. Maybe it’s foolish, and baseless; maybe he’s had one too many tonight. He doesn’t know anymore. And there’s the chance, however small, that Daniel might feel the same way. Jaehwan seems to think so. (But Seongwoo also thinks that Jaehwan has a broken gaydar, so that isn’t a particularly reliable source.)

“I didn’t get them for my sister,” he says, and Daniel’s brows furrow in confusion like they did on the first day when Seongwoo had pointed at the _Forest For Men_ collection.

“What—”

“I got them because when you walked up to me, I thought, _fuck_ , he’s _gorgeous_ , and I needed a reason to keep talking to you for even a little bit longer,” he says.

There’s an awful moment of silence that follows his confession, and dread sinks into the pit of Seongwoo’s stomach. _I’ve made a mistake_ , he thinks—

And then Daniel leans over and kisses him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Look at them,” Jaehwan says, grimacing. “They keep _gazing into each other’s eyes_. It’s _disgusting_.”

“Hey. Quit pulling that face while you’re working,” Sungwoon says, “you’re going to scare off customers.”

Grudgingly, he returns to restocking the pastries in the case. “Really, though—”

“Don’t be too jealous, Jaehwannie,” Seongwoo calls out from the table in the corner, “you’ll meet your dream man someday.”

“ _Dream man_ , huh?” Daniel says, raising an eyebrow playfully. “I must say, I never knew you thought so highly of me.”

Seongwoo scoffs. “Don’t get too confident, there.”

“Tell me,” Daniel says, “was it my eye smile? My charming personality? My ass when I bent down to get the mask—”

“Shut up,” Seongwoo says, and then kisses him.

Just to make sure he stops talking.

That’s all.

(Really.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
